Blue Car Lights Get Red Light In KC

Blue headlights like these are illegal under a Kansas City, MO ordinance passed Thursday.

Click to enlarge.

Listen

Listening...

/

Blue lights will now be illegal on motor vehicles in Kansas City, Missouri. Yes, blue lights.

There was a time when police cars, fire vehicles and ambulances were distinguished by their flashing red lights. But in recent years, emergency vehicles have started sporting blue warning lights or a combination of red and blue.

Councilman John Sharp says, though, that what some people have been doing causes confusion. "We have some private vehicles that are now displaying blue lights," Sharp told his fellow council members. "That's confusing to the public and a risk to public safety."

So the council made the blue lights illegal - headlights, spotlights, cowl and accessory lights.

The ordinance does not apply to public emergency vehicles or to private vehicles whose owners have a city permit to display emergency-vehicle type lighting.